100 years of the women's vote - a brief history of the suffragettes in south London and north Surrey

It's one hundred years since some women got the vote - and it followed a long battle for recognition from suffragists and suffragettes.

To mark the centenary of the 1918 Representation of the People Act, we take a look at how the plight of campaigners is entwined with south London and Surrey.

Blackheath – Emily Wilding Davison, who famously threw herself in front of the King’s Horse at the Epsom Derby in 1913, was born in Blackheath.

Battersea – When women were awarded the vote in 1918, one of the first women to stand for parliament was Women’s Freedom League member Charlotte Despard in Battersea. Despard Road in Islington is named after her.

Lewisham – Despite suffering total paralysis as a child, Rosa May Billinghurst rose to become a prominent leader in the suffrage movement. At the Black Friday demonstrations in 1910, shew was thrown out of her adapted tricycle and arrested. Several arrests culminated in a sentence for eight months for damage to letterboxes. She went on hunger strike in prison and was force-fed.

Epsom Derby – Emily Wilding Davison threw herself under the King’s Horse at the Epsom Derby in 1913, bringing the suffragette’s cause to wider public awareness.

Battersea – A number of leading suffragettes, including Emmeline Pankhurst, regularly held meetings at the old Battersea Town Hall, now the arts centre.

Croydon – In 2008, Croydon Guardian celebrated the achievements of two ordinary members of the Women’s Freedom League from Croydon who, 100 years earlier, endured the grim conditions of Holloway Prison for their part in protests. Mary Pearson and Mrs Dempsey spent six weeks in prison.

Sutton – Newspaper headlines from the early 1900s described disruption in sensationalist headlines such as “Suffragettes in Sutton. Riot, Rats and Ruffianism. The Platform Stormed."

South Croydon – South Croydon’s Eleanor Redshaw, who taught in Banstead, recalled the work of her hell-raising Grandma Eleanor Higginson in the movement. Mrs Higginson was ‘a window breaker, a fire starter and a jailbird’.

Epsom – In 2007, Epsom Magistrates’ Court, where leading suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst stood in the dock and Emily Davison’s inquest was held, was demolished.

Wimbledon – Wimbledon had its own brand of the suffragettes, led by Rose Lamartine Yates, who lived in Kingston Road and once held a protest meeting on Wimbledon Common despite the Government drafting in 300 policemen to prevent public meetings.

Painshill Park – Cast and crew from the 2016 film Suffragette descended on the picturesque landscape garden at Painshill Park in Cobham last year to film for the movie.

Walton-on-the-Hill – In February 1913, then-Chancellor David Lloyd-George’s summer house was targeted by suffragettes.

Wandsworth – David Lloyd-George, then the Chancellor of the Exchequer and later Prime Minister, lived in Wandsworth was an early supporter of women’s suffrage but his lack of action in power led to criticism. His house in Surrey was burnt down.

Teddington – The suffragettes weren’t afraid of direct action to get their message across. On April 26, 1913, a train in Teddington was nearly destroyed in an arson attack. No one was ever charged for the incident but suspicion fell on to German-born actress Kitty Marion, who was convicted for starting a fire at Hurst Park racecourse near Hampton Court on June 8, 1913.

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